This invention relates to missiles intended to be fired from an aircraft or from a shoulder supported launcher. More particularly the invention relates to missiles wherein a separable ejector motor is employed to expel the missile from the launch tube prior to ignition of the flight motor.
The requirements for tube launched missiles have reached the point where it is not possible to achieve desired velocities without separable stages. The stage that ejects the missile from the launch tube, the ejector motor, burns only briefly after ignition thereof and then it falls to the ground. It can be readily appreciated that such a falling mass can be a hazard to friendly troops in the area where the missile is fired, wheither fired from the ground or from an aircraft. Heretofore when missiles having separable stages were employed it was necessary to use some type of releasable latch mechanism to secure the stages that could, as desired, be released to allow separation of the stages. A common practice being to release the stages and then rely on acceleration and drag forces that occur when the main flight motor is fired to separate the stages.